Hi everyone! So far, everything has gone as planned. We made it to Almaty late Tuesday night. We flew from Atlanta to Frankfurt, then Frankfurt to Almaty. The Frankfurt airport was packed, and since it is a main hub for Lufthansa, people were literally flying out to all ends of the earth.
When we arrived in Almaty, the nice lady at the immigration line did not seem to think that I looked like my passport photo. Due to the language barrier, I decided it would not be wise to try and explain that I had been flying for about 24 hours, and probably didn't look like my glamour shot that is on my passport. Instead, I chose to just stand there as she looked at my passport, then back at me -- no less than 30 times! I have noticed that no one here smiles. In Atlanta, a sweet smile and "please" and "thank yous" will take you pretty far...I guess I will put my grin away for a while.
The driver and interpreter were waiting for us at the airport (thank goodness), and dropped us off at our apartment. We went to the lawyer's office yesterday and got most of the paperwork done. We then toured the city with our driver, Andrei. He is great - very friendly, speaks very good English. I will try to figure out how to post some pictures later. It is cold here, but not horrible. Snow is on the ground, but not too much.
At around 12pm today, Andrei will take us to the airport, and we will fly to Karaganda. Another US couple should be on the same flight, and we are anxious to meet them. Once we arrive in Karaganda, we may be able to go to the baby house and meet our baby, though we have been warned that we may have to wait until Friday. I will post again once we get settled into our apartment in Karaganda.
-Kelley
